Haim, Los Campesinos! Throw Up V-Signs in Twitter Conflict

Over the weekend, the Haim sisters made a stop at Manchester venue the Ritz as a part of their current European tour.

Los Campesinos! were also playing a gig that same night at Gorilla, another Manchester venue directly across the street from the Ritz. Apparently not pleased with the proximity of the two shows, frontman Gareth Paisey took to Twitter to send the band a less-than-cordial “hello” from across the street. The picture featured Paisey holding up two fingers in the shape of a “V” with the caption “Playing a gig across the street from a Haim gig tonight.” While the gesture seems harmless and the text doesn’t have a malicious tone to it, the photo is what got HAIM, and their fans, a little pissed off.

In places like the United States, the two fingered gesture usually gets interpreted as a symbol for “peace.” However, in the U.K., if you flash someone a “V,” you’re basically giving them the finger. Well, the band got wind of Paisey’s tweet and, as you can imagine, it did not sit well with the members. HAIM promptly responded with a photo of themselves giving the gesture right back, along with their fans behind them, all letting Gareth know what they thought of his tweet “@grthdvd played a gig across the road from a Los campesinos gig tonight.”

Bassist Este Haim later tweeted at Paisey “YOU FUCK WITH ME I FUCK WITH YOU HARDER. AND I LOVE EVERYONE THAT WAS AT THE SHOW TONIGHT ❤❤❤❤.”

Paisey continued to tweet about the incident throughout the night, taking shots at the band and making fun of them for an appearance they made with Prime Minister David Cameron. The singer also said that after the gig, HAIM fans were outside the venue yelling things at him like “fuck you Gareth.” Los Campesinos! current tourmates Joanna Gruesome also retweeted HAIM’s first tweet, causing a disappointed Paisey to respond with “@JOANNAGRUESOME can’t believe you RTd that Haim tweet. Low blow, guys.”

Los Campesinos! fans showed their support for Paisey by tweeting at him and HAIM with the hashtag #teamgrthdvd attached. Paisey also got some moral support from other artists like Waxahatchee (Katie Crutchfield), praising him for his perseverance against the army of angry HAIM fans.

Paisey eventually tweeted that it was nothing personal against the band. “I’ve never even heard a HAIM song as far as I know! Tom says the album’s really great. I just love the #banter,” Paisey pointed out. “I don’t dislike HAIM. Would have done the same tweet at literally any band playing that close to ours.”

Both bands are scheduled to play in London tonight. Luckily for them, the venues are far enough apart for there to be any chance of another incident.